I'm only just catching up with this - I've been away.
Bee: I haven't heard 'Echo Mountain', but there's a town - or a village, I can't remember - in North Wales called Beddgelert, which is supposed to be the burial place of the dog Gelert, whose owner, Llewelyn killed him in the mistaken belief that the dog had killed his baby son. Apparently the tale is also known in other European cultures...You're right; the tale's a real tear-jerker. I have sung a version of it. I had to sing it quite a few times before I could get through it without welling up!
Terry McDonald: As George Henderson says, 'Andrew Rose is a true story. And yes - he died about four days out from Liverpool, as a direct result of a relentless campaign of abuse and cruelty inflicted by the captain and the two mates. Does the victim have to drop dead on the spot for it to be called murder?
Bill D: 'The Twa Corbies' wasn't meant to be 'sad'; it was apparently written as a synical parody (if that's the word) on the earlier song 'The Three Ravens'.
What about 'Lord Gregory'? AKA 'Lass of Loch Royan' etc. Pretty tragic for my money. I even put it on my CD....
Just struggling with me coat here...John Kelly.